Posts Tagged ‘And you call yourself a film buff’

I have always considered myself as a Dude; I go bowling, eat Cheetos, and have seen every episode of [i]Breaking Bad[/i]-twice. But that title was seriously questioned in the office when it was discovered that I have not seen the holy grail of dude movies, the Dude Bible, The Death Star of Dudeness: The Big Lebowski. With my Dude identity on the line, I finally sat down to watch the film; and my life will never be the same.

Among iconic, memorable film moments, a baby alien bursting from John Hurt’s chest is close to the top of the list. And yet, yesterday morning, I hadn’t seen anything before or after that scene. Why would someone do that to such an acclaimed British actor? I would wonder. Did they put it in his food? Does that make him a father? Mazel tov, John Hurt! Last night, I decided the ignorance had to stop. As a film buff, I had to watch this classic sci-fi that has garnered so many fans and remakes. And as a feminist, I had to see Ellen Ripley in action.

It’s not that I avoided watching Chinatown, as I have with other ‘Film Buff’ fodder like Lawrence of Arabia or Doctor Zhivago. I just never got around to it, but last week, I finally bit the bullet. I didn’t really know what to expect — some people had told me it was awesome; others had said it was good, but disturbing. So, I pressed play apprehensively. As it turns out, that was the perfect attitude, as I remained impressed and nervous for the next 130 minutes.